


First Meeting

by hypnoshatesme



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Mary Keay's A+ Parenting, Pre-Relationship, is kinda implied/mentioned, mostly really just the title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26891125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypnoshatesme/pseuds/hypnoshatesme
Summary: Gerry gets caught in the rain.
Relationships: Gerard Keay/Michael Shelley
Comments: 8
Kudos: 52





	First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> today's prompt was 'first meeting' and I'll never pass the opportunity of having these two meet in infinite manners and contexts. :)

Gerry didn’t know when the rain had gotten this bad. He didn’t know how long he’d been running. His legs were starting to hurt and breathing was starting to be painful. He had to stop, to catch his breath, try to figure out where he even was.

It hadn’t been the first time he had run in on one of his mother’s...projects. It had been the first time there had been so much blood everywhere, the first time she had looked up at him like he might be next. Gerry hadn’t waited for her to speak before he bolted and he hadn’t stopped to check whether he was being followed. He just ran. 

He had tried running away - in a less literal sense - a couple times before. In the end, he always ended up at her doorstep. He didn’t really know why. Life just didn’t feel like it suited him outside of that bookshop and Mary’s terrifying lessons. Gerry thought he might be broken. 

He nearly stumbled into the wall, bracing himself with his arms, panting. His heart kept pounding, blood rushing in his ears as he stared down at the thin strip of dry concrete beneath his feet. He was dripping all over it. He turned around, leaning his back against the building wall, watching the rain that didn’t seem to reach him properly. The wall stayed dry. He looked up only to glance at a sign he couldn’t quite decipher, vision swimming with the sudden change of perspective.

He heard a bell to his left and nearly jumped at the sound. When he looked towards it, he realised it was a door. He guessed he’d come to a stop by some kind of shop. But it was late, he was sure of that, even if the sky had turned dark grey with rain, making it impossible to pinpoint the time. Mary usually worked late. He was on edge, detached himself from the wall. The world tilted for a moment, but he steadied himself, hand against the wall again, but still ready to bolt any moment.

“Excuse me, are...are you alright?” 

Something about the voice made Gerry relax, just a little. It was always a relief to hear something so far removed from his mother’s voice when he expected her to come after him. She never did. 

He forced himself to keep alert as he looked at the source of the voice looking at him from the now open door. He didn’t look much older than Gerry, maybe 17, blond, curly hair and a freckled, round face, eyes wide with concern as they took in Gerry.

It was that look that made Gerry freeze in confusion. 

“Do you want to come inside? Wait the rain out?” He didn’t come closer, only pointed to the door.

His expression looked troubled when Gerry didn’t react. He hesitated for a moment before disappearing back into the shop, leaving the door open. Gerry stared at it, half expecting him to come back. Then he shivered, his body starting to calm down from the run, registering that he was soaked in icy rain. He hesitated for a moment. It would be stupid to go inside, wouldn’t it? Then again, it was stupid of Gerry to keep going back to Mary and yet he was sure that was where he would end up once he calmed down. It always was. She would’ve been mad if he’d go inside, so he did.

The first thing Gerry noticed was the warmth, the sweet scent of baked goods. It was a bakery, a couple of tables in one corner. Everything was empty, the blond cleaning the spotless counter across from Gerry. He looked up when Gerry stepped inside and  _ smiled _ . Gerry’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t the best at social situations, but he was fairly sure that was not an appropriate reaction to having a drenched goth follow your suggestion of waiting out the rain in an apparently already closed shop. Or maybe it was. Gerry wouldn’t know.

“Uhm, you can sit down? I haven’t wiped the tables yet.” 

His smile seemed to falter at Gerry’s expression. Or maybe it was the fact that he was still standing right in front of the door, unmoving. Another shiver went through Gerry as he watched the blond some more, undecided whether he should really get further away from his escape.

Concern was back in his eyes. “I think we have some towels in the kitchen…”

He turned Gerry his back, and Gerry frowned in confusion as he disappeared behind a door behind him. Gerry’s legs were still aching and his eyes wandered to the tables. He decided to sit in the chair closest to the door. Something about the warm air against his frigid skin made him shiver again. He rubbed his hands together.

Gerry felt like quite some time had passed and he was considering going to the door in the back and seeing where the blond had gone. Had he left? Had this been some sort of trap after all? Gerry took in his surroundings again but it still looked the same, still looked like a normal bakery. He couldn’t hear any noises from the kitchen, but he was sitting pretty far from the door. 

Finally, the guy emerged again, with a towel in one hand and a cup in the other. “I’m sorry it took so long, I made you some tea.” He gave Gerry another shy smile. “I haven’t turned off the heating yet, but you look like you could go for something warm.”

He put the cup and towel on the table, looking very awkward as Gerry started to dry off his face and hair the best he could. Gerry felt a bit awkward himself, and it was putting him off to have somebody so tall just standing right next to him. He had to crane his neck to keep an eye on his expression, to see if it was looking suspicious in any way.

“You can sit down,” he decided to say, unsure if he should make it a question or if that would just be weird.

Since the blond did sit down in front of him he assumed his wording had been fine. Gerry wasn’t sure if this arrangement made things any less awkward. He wrapped his hands around the steaming cup, biting back the relieved sigh at the warmth against his stiff fingers.

“Uh...thanks,” he mumbled, feeling his face heat up. It seemed like the appropriate thing to say, but Gerry wasn’t very used to saying it and the strange, awkward silence was starting to get to him.

“No problem. I’m waiting for the rain to calm down myself, forgot my umbrella this morning.” 

Another smile. Gerry was fairly sure people usually didn’t smile this much. Not at him, at least. He just nodded, unsure how else to react to this situation. They fell back into somewhat tense silence. Gerry watched as the blond nervously played with the tips of his hair. He guessed he wasn’t the only one on edge.

Suddenly, the blond sat up straighter. “I’m Michael, by the way.” He chuckled awkwardly. “I...forgot introductions, how rude.”

Gerry wasn’t sure if this situation really called for introductions, but he nodded. “Gerry.”

Michael smiled again and this time, Gerry tried to return it tentatively. 


End file.
